There is a certain charm in family businesses as they tend to hold an intriguing story behind well-crafted logos and labels. The Leonardo Nuccio showroom in Tricase, a small town in the province of Lecce, opened its doors in 2017 and began to introduce the sartorial experience and made-to-measure service to their clients.
In the early 1990s, Leonardo Nuccio worked under a sartorial brand that focused on a collection of ties, handkerchiefs, and vest production, selling at Pitti Uomo to European, American, and Japanese customers. As the business continued to grow, the brand launched the first Groom collection with a complete look that included everything from blazers to accessories.
After years of sweeping success, in 2017, Leonardo Nuccio decided to launch his own brand – Leonardo Nuccio Showroom. Working alongside his two daughters, Leonardo manages the design process in the sartorial and artisanal sphere and administration activities.
“We created Leonardo Nuccio Showroom, a very beautiful place in an ancient building in Tricase, our homeland. My sister joined the team after obtaining her bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design at IED Milano, so now the business is made up of 3 people: my sister, the designer and communication manager; my father, who is the manager of the production chain, and the best salesman in the world; and me, the business developer and the administration manager. The three of us are in the showroom every day working together, and we are at the service of our dear customers,” says Melissa Nuccio, sharing the brand story.
As their motto suggests – “Amante del bello, dell eleganza” (“Lover of beauty, of elegance”) – one of the brand’s objectives is to strive for elegance and refinement. Many may not know this, but Puglia has a rich history in the tailoring industry and was an important commercial hub for decades, where suits, shoes, couture lace lingerie, and lavish evening dresses were handmade for men and women. The reclamation of this historic craft is evidently coming back, with family-run businesses turning to the sewing machines to offer people the timeless experience of individuality.
In fact, Leonardo Nucci takes ‘Made in Puglia’ quite seriously as nearly all the materials are sourced from the region. Blazer, suits, and coats are made in Locorotondo and Martina Franca, shirts in Castellana Grotte, casual trousers in Maglie, vests in the town of Miggiano, hats from Cutrofiano, handmade shoes from Tiggiano, and ties and handkerchiefs in Corsano. Only leather and knitwear are sourced from Umbria and Tuscany.
“We produce semi-sartorial suits, starting from the standard size of our customer, and then we edit the paper pattern and create their own suit in our workshop in Locorotondo with our dear friend Angelo, a true expert in this field,” says Melissa.
The brand offers its customers a rich selection of fabrics produced by celebrated textile houses including Vitale Barberis Canonico, Ermenegildo Zegna, Carlo Riva, and designs suits for businessmen and grooms, as well blazers, trousers, coats, and vests. They also provide made-to-measure shirts at a workshop in Castellana Grotta, in the province of Bari.
The family-run business is working on launching an online platform with a prêt-à-porter collection coming in 2021, yet they mainly shape the brand’s image through the use of social media. “Our social media strategy is based on the research of beauty; this beauty could come from our wonderful land (you could see it in our latest project “Fino all’ ultimo raggio di sole”) or could come from our raw materials when we post details of our garments, always trying to explain to people more and more concepts of menswear,” says Melissa. The showroom’s Instagram account is full of vivid colors and peculiarly curated aesthetics. The image of shirts on a table metaphorically depicts food, perhaps to set up a story for our imagination.
Picture this: which one of these shirts could go for breakfast and which one best suits important dinner meetings? This interplay between concepts and storytelling is a far-reaching move for a bespoke brand to set the right tone and vision for its customers.
Even though the pandemic has had a considerable influence on people’s day-to-day life as well as on professional operations and our purchasing habits, Leonardo Nuccio Showroom is rightly focused on planning the future, starting with an Apulian manufacturing tour for travelers who would like to discover craftsmanship in the region and create a signature style of their own, and plans to organize trunk shows in Milan, Rome, and London as soon as it will be possible.
For more information please contact:
Email: info@leonardonuccio.com
Web: www.leonardonuccio.com
Tel: +390833771747
Tatevik Avetisyan is a Milan-based freelance writer specializing in fashion, travel, and art. Her master project for Istituto Europe di Design, “Which Character Are You?” fashion film was published in Vogue-Talents. She leads her fashion blog and travels around the world in search of new inspirations. Besides content creation, her biggest passion is jewelry design and gardening.
